In the manufacture of rolled goods, i.e. goods which are manufactured and are removed from their final production station in a rolled-up condition, such as fabrics, wall coverings, paper etc., it is necessary to somehow inspect these goods for flaws such as misalignment of design, design defects, pinholes etc. This is especially true in the wall covering industry wherein a serious design deformity can run continuously through a series of product rolls before detection.
While this problem of product quality has been recognized for many years, a rapid quality control mechanism has not heretofore been available. Prior to our invention, inspection of rolls of wall covering, which usually comprise from 25-35 feet of material, was accomplished by unrolling the wall covering manually atop a 40-foot table, inspecting the unrolled material with the naked eye by walking alongside the table and then manually rerolling the material. Any defects and flaws which were discovered were removed by cutting the material before it was rerolled.